Cocktail

This drink is dedicated to all the peeps out there who wish they were on a beach in their bathing suit, sipping on a drink with an umbrella in it.

Doesn’t it seem like everyone and their mom is on vacation right now? I’m definitely not on vacation but that’s ok because I’m already planning next summer’s vacay. I found this little teeny apartment on the Amalfi coast where I plan on living out my obsession with The Talented Mr. Ripley. I plan on wearing little white sneakers with my bathing suits and drinking nothing but rose and eating grilled branzini all day–it’s going to be magical.

The name of this cocktail is just an indicator that there are times in the kitchen when I don’t know what I exactly want and am usually like, why can’t I add mint to this. I’d only make sense! This is a hodgepodge of two kinds of cocktails: a mojito and a caipirinha. So…that makes it a caipirijito. If I’ve confused you, please ignore me and make this cocktail with rum and you can call it a rhubarb mojito.

Sometimes I overly complicate things and annoy myself.

What is the difference between cachaca and rum anyway? There is a difference, even though it might not seem that way at first glance.

Rum is made using processed cane; hence the reason why rum usually has notes of molasses.

Cacacha is much cleaner in flavor because it’s made with unprocessed cane juice. So, I think when you’re pairing it with something like, say, rhubarb, the cleaner flavor is the way to go.

There are a ton of cacachas out there you can use; I picked a super standard one called Pitu. It’s great for mixing cocktails a.k.a. caipirhinias. Is it fancy? No, it won’t impress anyone and it’s definitely not made to sip, but it’ll do the trick when making mixed drinks. And it’s not expensive at all.

Phew. This week handed it to me. Between fighting a case of strep throat to a week of a hundred degree weather to dealing with lots of family issues, this week has been on the rougher side of rough. Let’s just say it was pumice-like. Rouuuugh. The other night as I was wallowing in my misery, being the Negative Nancy I’m usually not, I decided to stop it already. I made the decision to be happy. It’s a hard thing to do when so many of the big things are wrong, off, out of place, but I needed to just enjoy the next hour of my life. I know that sounds silly but I did. So, I made myself a delightful Grapefruit Shandy…mostly out of necessity.

I first had a shandy when I had just moved to LA and went to the opening night of this beer bar called El Prado. They were serving shandies and I had, like, five. Definitely too many, but I absolutely looooved them. Flash to years later, I went to my favorite beer store and found this Stiegel Grapefruit Shandy (they did all the work for you!) and thought it was the most delicious thing in the entire world.

Anyway, the other night when I was super bummed out I went to the beer store to buy a bottle for myself and they were all sold out. Womp, womp. It had never dawned on me to just make one. So here you go! The short story of a grapefruit shandy.

It’s the simplest most delicious thing ever. They’re kinda similar to the dude-ly mimosas I like to make: beer and orange juice vs. champagne. Champagne has always been a bit too girly for me. It all tastes the same and it tends to make my nose itch.